Baby playpen are they worth it?

My baby is only 3 months and I didn’t want a playpen until I got home and realized I needed a safe spot to place her for a moment because I have a dog. I got the Graco dlx trvl and I love it. Easy to put up and take down, great for travel and has two wheels for easy moving.

Playpens are worth it! Just try to have baby close by from wherever you’re working

They grow out of play pen so fast. We converted our living room to be their play area blocked off by extended play gates and secured furniture.

when you live in a small apartment, playpen helps a lot ;) But if you live in a more spacious house converting living room is a wonderful option

We went with this type of playpen, and I cannot recommend enough. It's a bit pricier (we paid £160 at the time I think): https://amzn.eu/d/dLqVUrQ

But was 100% worth it. As comes with some built in interactive toys for as they get older (spinners, ball slide, basketball hoop etc), but the main plus is all the panels come off by simply unscrewing an attachment. Meaning you can make the playpen as small or as big as you like, and configure into any shape to suit the space. When our little one was smaller we used it fully enclosed when we needed a safe space to put him.

But as he's grown and needed more space/open area to explore when he's at home we've taken it apart into sections and now use them moreso to just block off specific (unsafe) areas of the living room. E.g. TV cabinet, any areas with plugs/cables etc.

Has worked perfectly for us and will continue to do so I'm sure well into his toddlering and beyond (he's 22m now)

We live in a small flat with barely any room and not enough room to make it baby safe so a play pen was a god send we would not of survived without it since hes been mobile about 4 months we've had 1 and hes 13 months now and only just taken it down coz we got a bigger place and didn't need it anymore. We just brought 1 off Facebook market place coz I didn't wanna spend hundred on 1 coz they r very expensive n its been great made my life much easier can cook, clean, pee in peace and when I wasn't busy id get in with him and play x

I’d say yes Unless ur house is already baby proofed

For us it wasn’t worth having one at all. My daughter was so clingy, that I just couldn’t put her down without her screaming. I think there was a very short period of about a month max when I could put her in the play pen. Thankfully ours was a hand me down so we didn’t waste money on it. Also thankfully our daughter has never really tried to go for things that aren’t toys, so if we did pop out the room it’s never been an issue.

Oh heck YES! It will give you hours of your life back every day. Best thing i ever bought! Still uses it now at 16 months. He will happily just play in there with his toys. Got mine second hand from Vinted so it was pretty cheap too. Bought a foam mat to go on the bottom as i have hard tiled floor and it means he can fall over without hurting himself

We got one second hand and it's been great the last month or so. My boy is 8.5 months and wants to go and explore constantly. It's really helpful to pop him in there when I'm making his breakfast or cooking dinner (kitchen not big enough to have him in there with me). I tend to keep the zip up door open when I'm with him so he can go in and out as he pleases - that way he hasn't got any negative associations with being put in there while I leave the room (if that makes sense).
It's also really handy to store his toys at the end of the day, it feels tidier in the room if everything is in there.

Some babies love them, some hate them.

It was a total waste of money for us as ours wouldn't go in it and when I put him in it he would scream. Literally took it down after a few weeks.

I think it largely depends on your baby's temperament.

Thank you everyone for your responses. It's really helped me decide to go ahead and get those gates to secure our play area which already has a foam mat and toys etc.

Absolutely! We wouldn’t be without ours tbh. Our LG is also 9 months

I got a travel cot come playpen for my twins, very easy to pack away and use for going away

https://www.pramworld.co.uk/hauck-dream-n-play-travel-cot-beige/

I love ours. I will say, he just pulls himself up on the edges at this point looking for me. (10mths) But it’s still helpful to get the dishes done and stuff. He will independently play for short periods of time too.

is this one ok for 6 months? I was thinking I need one with soft sides / mesh?

i bought one and it made her cry and have separation anxiety 😭😭😭 i returned it after a few days of trying and accepted my fate and just baby proofed the house. when i need to do dishes i give her spoons and plates and a box of ziplock bags so she can take out the bags just to distract her lol. i do laundry with her since i have a baby wrap. she likes to watch me cook so i’ll wear her in the wrap for that

Definitely a yes to play pens.
We got ours second hand (for free) to try if it's worth it.
We can put our little one down and he plays by himself for some time. Sometimes we are in it with him.
He is 8 months old and starts pulling himself up all the time. The play pen has foam tiles, so when he falls down he doesn't hurt himself. Our flat has loads of stairs (multi-level) and is definitely not child proof... we couldn't let him out of sight without the play pen